


“I never meant to come between you and him.”

by Yuuki_Nyanmaru



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:40:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28809012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuuki_Nyanmaru/pseuds/Yuuki_Nyanmaru
Summary: Aiba’s hands were sweating hard as he walked down the street. Every step he took made him more nervous, and he was wondering if he had taken the right decision. He had been away for so long, and even if he asked Sho to not wait for him and to move on, a part of him was hoping that his now ex-boyfriend didn’t listen to him.
Relationships: Aiba Masaki/Sakurai Sho
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15
Collections: Sakuraiba Tanabata 2020-2021





	“I never meant to come between you and him.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This was also a setting I always wanted to write! Hope you like it ^^

Aiba’s hands were sweating hard as he walked down the street. Every step he took made him more nervous, and he was wondering if he had taken the right decision. He had been away for so long, and even if he asked Sho to not wait for him and to move on, a part of him was hoping that his now ex-boyfriend didn’t listen to him.

Even if three years had passed since he went overseas to master photography and achieve his dream, and even if he had some flings back in France, there had never been a day in which his heart had forgotten about Sho. They had dated throughout all college and even three years after that, making their 6-years-long relationship the longest and most fulfilling one he had ever had.

They were even planning to get married, but due to this sudden decision, they had to stop all their plans. However, Sakurai had been supportive of his dream since the beginning and he encouraged him to chase it. Even though he was suffering a lot, the man had always smiled until the day of his departure, and he only let himself crumble when Aiba was too far and he thought that he couldn’t see him.

But he saw Sho’s tears, he saw his sobs, and his heart broke at that sight. He was so sorry to have made the person he loved the most suffer. But he was back now, and if Sho let him, Masaki was ready to make him happy again.

Thanks to his dear best friend Nino, he knew that Sho and his stepbrother Jun had finally found a place to open their yearned lounge bar. They were still working on setting the place up and so they would stay all day there.

He checked his wristwatch. It was 10 pm and the light was still on at the bar. “You guys have always been hardworking,” he contemplated. Taking some more steps, he found himself in front of the entrance, and taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open.

“Hello?” he tried, looking around.

“Who is it?”

He recognized that voice. It was his Sho-chan.

“Come and see for yourself,” he replied.

He heard the usual annoying sigh of Sho, who then came out from the storeroom wiping his hands on a towel. As soon as he raised his head and saw Masaki standing right in front of him, he froze. Suddenly, he felt self-conscious and hid his mouth and nose under his scarf, averting his gaze to his surroundings.

“It looks like a nice place,” he commented, wishing to fill that awkward silence.

“You seem too real to be my usual dream,” Sho then said, taking some steps forward, “You’re… really Masaki?”

He nodded, “It’s been a while.”

“It has, indeed.” Sho tossed the towel on a nearby couch before taking a seat on a stool, next to the counter. He offered Aiba the one next to him but he refused; he didn’t know if he was ready to have Sho so close to him.

“How long are you staying?”

“I’m back for good.”

Sho seemed to hold a breath at that, “Really?”

“Yeah. I finished my master’s and I found a job in a photo studio. I went today; its work-environment was very very nice.”

“I’m glad to hear that. You have a talent for photography, I always knew that you could make it,” Sakurai affirmed, smiling.

“I could have never made it without you.”

Sho shook his head, as he always did whenever Aiba would thank him for his support. The man would always dismiss it as something ‘normal’ to do, but it wasn’t true. Not every partner could have been like him. If he had found the courage to study abroad, it was only thanks to Sho and no one else.

“Anyway, thanks for paying me a visit. But you should go, it’s late and I’m sure that your family is waiting for you.”

“I have already met them. Tonight was…” he didn’t have the courage to continue that sentence, since he knew he was going to sound sickly sweet. However, Sho’s eyes were urging him to finish and so he did, “I wanted this night to be ours. You know, catch up and… stuff.”

“Stuff?”

He clicked his tongue, “You really have to point that out?”

“It just sounded, you know, fishy.”

“It’s not.”

“Tell me, what’s your goal tonight?”

He laughed at the Sho’s narrowed eyes, who were studying him. “It just so happens that in these past three years I didn’t have a proper partner because my heart was already reserved for someone else. I know that I asked this person to move on and forget me if he had the chance, but—”

“You didn’t have any serious relationship?” Sho cut him off. His tone seemed confused.

“Yeah. I mean, I had casual flirts but nothing serious.”

“Because you didn’t want to?”

“Partly, but also because I wasn’t able to. I couldn’t bring myself to love someone else, when I knew what true love is when I was with you,” he confessed.

Sakurai looked down and he seemed hurt somehow. “I never meant to come between you and him.”

Aiba furrowed his eyebrows immediately. _Him? What ‘him’?_ _Who is he talking about?_

“Come again?”

“That man in your Instagram stories; for months he was in your posts and stories. If it wasn’t for me, he could have been your boyfriend and maybe you would have even stayed in Paris, where you could become a famous photographer and—”

“Sho!” Aiba raised his voice to stop the other man’s words, which were flooding fast and loud. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“The really tanned man…”

Aiba reasoned for some instants before rolling his eyes. “That is my friend Ohno, he is a sculptor. I met him there and we became friends, that’s why he was always in my posts.”

“Ah, is that so…” Sho mumbled, gradually lowering his gaze as his cheeks became red due to the embarrassment.

“Thank you for checking my posts though.”

Sho nudged his shoulder as he giggled. Then, the man got up and collected his coat and cap, before going to turn off all the lights.

“Jun has already gone home and I finished what I had to do, so…”

“So…” he repeated.

“I mean,  _ it just so happens _ that I’m single right now and maybe still in love with my ex,” he muttered, before adding quickly, “It’s not like I waited for him, but it’s just difficult to find someone as special as him, you know.”

Aiba smiled and went to hold Sho’s hand, “I missed you.”

Sho left a quick kiss on Aiba’s cheek. “I missed you too.”


End file.
